When Points Become a Place: Customization, Inventory, and the Room
For yczz/oc-english, a point becomes meaningful only when the application knows who owns it and where it can go. This chapter examines the ownership model behind the shop and the room: which state belongs to a player profile, which belongs to an individual character, and how a valid purchase becomes a visible identity. The goal is not to inventory every item, but to understand why the project’s customization works as feedback rather than as decoration placed beside the learning loop.
The distinction begins with two kinds of persistence. A profile represents the player’s local account-like space: it holds points, owned items, learning progress, and the characters associated with that profile. A character represents one person-like identity inside that space: it holds a face, an outfit, and a room. That split lets several characters share the same economy while keeping their appearances and rooms distinct.
One profile, several identities
The profile is the owner of the economy. When a new profile is created, it starts with 200 points and a small starter inventory containing a bed and basic clothing. The profile also stores the list of characters, the active-character selection, custom items, and progress keyed by book and unit. A learner can therefore switch between characters without changing which textbook progress or point balance belongs to the profile.
The character is the owner of appearance and place. Its face records choices such as skin, hair, eyes, mouth, and blush. Its outfit records what is currently equipped in the available slots. Its room records furniture placements with coordinates. A character can look different from another character in the same profile and can have a different arrangement of furniture, even though both draw from the profile’s inventory.
The relationship can be stated in a simple table:
| State | Owner | What it makes possible |
|---|---|---|
| Points | Profile | Buy items and fund later choices |
| Inventory | Profile | Establish which catalog items the profile may use |
| Unit progress | Profile | Record practice and exam history by learning context |
| Face and outfit | Character | Define one OC’s visible identity |
| Room placements | Character | Define one OC’s personal space |
| Active character | Profile | Choose which identity the interface currently shows |
This arrangement solves a real product problem. If inventory were stored only on a character, the learner would have to earn or buy the same economy separately for every identity. If appearance and room were stored only on the profile, switching characters would not reveal distinct people. The current split gives the profile a shared history and gives each character a separate surface on which that history can appear.
It also clarifies what “owned” means. Buying an item adds its identifier to the profile inventory and subtracts its price from the profile’s point balance. Equipping the item changes a field on the selected character’s outfit.